For my first blog post I wanted to post about Dickens' extremely descriptive writing. Only about six chapters in and my head is already spinning. He paints the most beautiful images in his readers minds that are only about bread, someones voice, wine, and a cobblestone road. Out of all the books I've read, Dickens' is probably the best descriptive writer I have come across thus far.
On page 42, Dickens' describes the voice of Doctor Beauvais, whom we meet for the first time in chapter 6. "After a long silence, the head was lifted for another moment, and the voice replied, 'Yes- I am working.' This time, a pair of haggard eyes had looked at the questioner, before the face had dropped again.
The faintness of the voice was pitiable and dreadful. It was not no doubt had their part in it. Its deplorable peculiarity was, that it was the faintness of solitude and disuse. It was like the last feeble echo of a sound made long and long ago. So entirely had it lost the once beautiful colour, faded away into a poor weak stain. So sunken and suppressed it was, that it was like a voice underground. So expressive it was, of a hopeless and lost creature, that a famished traveller, wearied out by lonely wandering in a wilderness, would have remembered home and friends in such a tone before lying down to die." (42)
I had to reread this a couple of times just to make sure that this was only describing a voice. It's still crazy to me that Dickens' could go so far with so little. I know so much about this character and even how he is feeling just by the descriptiveness of his voice! After reading this passage, I pictured a bent over man, in a dull setting, with his head down and defeated. A person with lost hope. Out of four words that one man said, Dickens' created a whole paragraph. It says a lot about Dickens and his ability. These type of passages that we come across as readers are important for our learning because it shows that there really is no limit to creativity and description for something. This book is considered a "classic" because Dickens is an extraordinary writer, if anything he should be considered a "classic". This moved me as a reader and a writer because now I feel empowered to write as much as I can to create a picture so detailed like the one I created in my head from Dickens.
*Website for the picture that I found: http://lokimars.wordpress.com/tag/male-depression/
I agree with Julie's post, and that is what I described in my post too. Dickens does a good job in giving us details in the smallest things.To some pople it might just be wine that spilled, but to him it seems like it's very important and every detail makes our imagination go beyond the normal thought of "just wine" to something beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI Like the way Dickens emphisyses little deatials because it helps our immagination go beyond what he would think regularly.
Great post, Julie. I particularly like these comments: "These type of passages that we come across as readers are important for our learning because it shows that there really is no limit to creativity and description for something."
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting how Julie related Dickens writing back to her own and how she can improve. Julie also made a link to class discussions when she talked about the fact that "A Tale of Two Cities" is a novel, and even went further with the idea, by explaining that she thinks that Dickens should also be considered a "classic." Also, I thought that she displayed very good reading skills when she talked about rereading. In my blog post, I also said that I reread one of the passages in the novel, which helped improve my understanding.
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